my head control (curve orient constrained) doesn't want to properly parent to a previous joint (i.e., neck) without chaning its default value.

if i parent a null group to the neck, then the head control to the null group, i can retain my 0,0,0, but its sooooo damn touchy and jumps around when trying to rotate it. and it will just keep rotating around all weird. Is it because my head control is above the head, with the pivot point located at the base? am I making sense? how do I overcome this?

oh, and when it rotate all weird (too far), i hit undo, and the curve will either go back to its last position and the head will remain, or neither will move --- i have to undo all the way to the parenting --- then it goes back to normal --- I don't get it?

also, it works fine before parenting (but i need for it to stay with the head.

thanks for the help.

instruct9r

04 April 2006, 11:11 PM

Goup the head CTRL move the pivot to the previous joint, then parent constraint the group to that joint with "Maintain Offset" turned on....it should work

amannin

04 April 2006, 01:38 AM

hey thanks,

i had to group it first, then parent the group (not parent constrain, or else it messed up one of my neck controls) to the previous joint, i.e. neck.

I guess the group node acts as a buffer --- but why is that? i mean, why do I need to group it first?

i'm sure i'll end up having to explain this to my peers, so any explanation would be of great help.

once again, thanks for taking the time.

isoparmB

04 April 2006, 04:52 AM

The principle behind grouping an object as a parenting technique is so your object retains it's transform values (translate, rotate and scale) even though it's parented to another node with different transform values.

When you parent an object which was previously in world space (no parent), to a node which is no longer in line with the world (meaning a node with values other than the default translate 0 0 0, rotate 0 0 0, and scale 1 1 1), it's values are offset so as to compensate for it's new parent's transforms while retaining it's actual position. This is why when you parent something direcly to a rotated joint it receives values for it's transform attributes, or inversely, when you parent an object whose attributes are locked, this is why your object moves to another place.

Groups can act as an offset node for parenting if you need to retain your objects original transforms, like how your object is oriented.

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